"WHAT MATTERS" WRITING COMPETITION
This year our grade 6 students were invited to enter the What Matters writing competition.
What Matters? is a 'catalyst for young thinkers and young writers to develop a perspective, a point of view, on where we're heading as a society'.
Inspired by Gough Whitlam's commitment to involving young people in the shaping of Australia's future, the competition is open to school students in years 5 to 12 from Australia. Responding to the simple question 'what matters?', entrants are free to express their views on any matter they care about. These are two entries, one from Leif and one from Abby. Such talented thoughtful writers.
The Climate Activists by Leif Graham
Chapter 1: A New Friend
It was the hottest day of the year yet, and in the town of Whistling Willow Grove, up north of Tasmania, a young boy was kicking a footy with his best friend. Archer was sweating like mad! Oliver was worse though.
“Hey Archer,” asked Oliver. “Do you think we should make more friends?”
“Yeah, why not,” Archer replied. “I mean, we have Jake, but he’s a bit, crazy.”
“I heard a new girl moved into Tom’s house. I think her name is Sara.”
“Why don’t we go check!”
Chapter 2: A Cranky Man
The boys zoomed out of the house, and down
the street, to number 11 Willow Grove.
When they got there, they were all out of
breath. Finally, able to breathe again, they knocked on the door. Suddenly, the door flew open and out stepped a crooked, angry looking man.
“Hello sir,” Archer began. “We were wondering if we could speak to Sara for a moment.”
“You have no right to speak to my daughter!” He demanded in a strange accent. But what he said next was just mean. “You will leave my house and never return. But if you do, I will have such fun torturing you!”
After that, Oliver and Archer sadly shuffled home, their faces forlorn. When they arrived, it was about 7.30 pm, after saying goodbye to each other, they scurried off to bed. After dinner of course.
Chapter 3: The Letter
In the morning, when Oliver and Archer met up again, Oliver excitedly questioned Archer, “Why don’t we write a letter!”
Archer was taken by surprise. But, after a second, he realised that Oliver was wise.
“How did you come up with that Oliver!” Archer crowed. “What are we going to write in it?”
Oliver’s face was blank for a moment, then he replied “I’m not so sure. I was just thinking about in bed until about 11.30 pm. When I thought of it, I celebrated.”
“We could go to the newsagency and get some supplies.” Archer suggested.
“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea.” Came the reply.
The boys ran through the house, hopped on their bikes, and rode to the newsagency. Sweating profusely. On their way back, they saw a truck with a tarp over it, going up a road, a plastic bag falling out from under the tarp.
“Hey Oliver,” questioned Archer. “Do you think we should check what’s up that road?”
He glanced at Oliver, who gave a slight nod.
Chapter 4: Bulging Eyes
When they made it up the road, they were greeted by a horrid smell. Archer gasped at Oliver, who was observing the place. It was a place of pure putridness. It was the dump. Archer felt as if he had been kicked in the gut.
When they got home, they started on the letter.
Dear Sara,
We were wondering if you would want to become our friends. We tried going to your house, but your father sent us away, so we wrote this letter. We were also wondering if you would be interested in helping us clean the streets.
Yours sincerely, Archer and Oliver
Before they posted it, they saw Sara playing in the park. So, they asked her.
Thankfully, she said yes.
Chapter 5: The Announcement
The trio approached their local mayor to discuss how they could encourage the town to have a clean-up. The mayor made an announcement that everyone would help clean the streets. It took a whole weekend, but Whistling Willow Grove became the cleanest town in all of Tasmania.
The End!
Anything Matters – by Abby Burns
What matters? There can be no one answer to this question. If you asked this question to a group of people, everyone would answer with something different. But the question is what matters to me, right? To be honest, I have no idea. There’s a lot of things that matter to me, I know that. Because if I didn’t care about anything, or anyone, who would I be?
But one single thing that matters to me, I just couldn’t pinpoint it. Can you think of one single thing that matters to you right now? You probably can. Is it worth writing about? Can you think of one single thing that matters to you which is worth writing about? Can you think of one single thing that matters to you which is worth writing about, which is important, relevant, or world-changing?
When you really think about it, answering the simple question becomes harder. What matters? Something quick and off the top of your head could be something amazing to write about, but when you take that idea and put it under microscope after microscope, it can seem like the worst idea ever.
So idea after idea is shot down, but nobody is criticizing your ideas except for you. You can be so harsh on your own work, it feels hard to enjoy writing or drawing or whatever else at some points. Because you feel like at some point you won’t appreciate this work, or be proud of it.
When you think about it like that, not appreciating old work, or hating it to an extent, it doesn’t feel like improvement. But if you think of it as not so much as “liking” old work, but being grateful that you can recognize the difference between new work and old work, it’s a lot different.
So when I’m writing, I just try to do my best. It doesn’t matter if I like this work in ten years or not, I’ll be able to recognize how much I have improved. I’ll be able to realize how I word things better than I did before, or how I use better grammar, or better vocabulary.
And I’ve been writing for approximately 30 minutes now, but I still haven’t said what matters.
Well, what matters is slowing down. Taking in things and truly thinking about how they make you feel. There’s no need to over-analyse anything, just think about how much you’ve improved, how much more confident you feel doing whatever you’re doing than when you first started. There is no limit to how much you can improve, there’s no need to stress over the thought of not doing good. Every second we’re doing something, we improve at it.
So, slow down. Think. Breathe.
Anything can be as complicated as you want, or as simple as you want. Ultimately it’s how you think that chooses how you feel, so don’t think too much.